CU 15. Laparoscopic surgery for adrenal metastasis in 15 patients

Objective: To explore the feasibility of using laparoscopic adrenalectomy for adrenal metastasis.

Methods: Fifteen patients have undergone laparoscopic adrenalectomies for adrenal metastasis in our hospital since September 2005. The mean adrenal tumor size was 2.6 cm (range, 1.8 to 3.5). The laparoscopic approach was applied retroperitoneally in all these 15 cases.

Results: Two cases were conver ted to open surger y intraoperatively. The reason for conversion was severe adhersion to the surrounding tissues. There was no peri-operative mortality. The pathological diagnoses were metastatic cancer, which were originally from lung cancer (n=8), hepatic cancer (n=4), and thymic cancer (n=3). Median follow-up was 24 months (range, 3 to 42 months). Five patients died of the progressive disease. The other 10 patients were alive with stable disease. No local recurrence was detected. There were no port site metastases or retroperitoneal implantation.

Conclusions: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy can be performed with acceptable outcomes in the carefully selected patients.